Berlin's beloved polar bear Knut, who rose to stardom when he was hand-raised by zoo keepers after being rejected by his mother at birth, has died.
The world-famous bear died alone in his compound, bear keeper Heiner Kloes said.
"He was by himself in his compound, he was in the water, and then he was dead," he said. "He was not sick, we don't know why he died."
A postmortem will be conducted on Monday to try pinpoint his cause of death.
Mr Kloes said between 600 and 700 visitors had witnessed Knut's death. The zoo's staff were shocked, he said.
Berlin mayor Klaus Wowereit called the bear's death "awful."
"We all held him so dearly," Mr Wowereit said. "He was the star of the Berlin zoos."
The polar bear rose to global fame after he was rejected by his mother when he was born in captivity on December 5th, 2006. The fluffy cub was shown to the public 15 weeks later, and attendance at the zoo has roughly doubled since, officials said.
The resulting "Knutmania" led to a 2007 Vanity Fair cover with actor Leonardo DiCaprio shot by famed photographer Annie Leibovitz, a film and plush likenesses.
Though the zoo has never released exact numbers, Knut merchandise including postcards, key chains, candy and stuffed Knuts have brought in hundreds of thousands of euros.
AP